ftAfk  BOOKS 


NORMAL  SCM  STM. 


i,  HAMPTON,  VA. 


THE  ELEVATION  OF  A RACE  AND 
THE  REDEMPTION  OF  A CONTINENT 


AN  ADDKESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


JAKTUARY  15,  1878, 


WILLIAM  H.  ALLEN,  LL.  D., 

President  of  Girard  College. 


WASHINGTON  CITY  : 

Colonization  Building,  450  Pennsylvania  Avenue. 
1878. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/elevationofracer00alle_2 


ADDRESS. 


Mr.  President, 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:— 

When  Bushrod  Washington  was  elected  President  of  the  American 
Colonization  Society,  sixty-one  years  ago,  not  one  of  the  eminent  men 
who  had  organized  that  Society  imagined  that  the  colony  they  were 
about  to  plant  on  the  coast  of  Africa  would  be  an  independent  nation 
before  the  close  of  the  next  thirty  years.  And  when,  thirty  years  ago, 
Joseph  Roberts  delivered  his  inaugural  address  as  first  president  of  the 
infant  republic,  who  would  have  dared  to  predict  that  before  twenty 
years  should  pass  away  there  •would  not  be  a slave  in  the  United  States, 
and  that  before  the  year  1878  there  would  be  schools  and  colleges  and 
universities  in  successful  operation  for  the  instruction  of  colored  youth? 
The  bold  prophet  would  have  been  sent  to  prison  as  “a  person  danger- 
ous to  the  peace  of  society,”  had  he  been  caught  in  the  South,  and  in 
the  North  he  would  have  been  regarded  as  a crazy  enthusiast.  The 
march  of  history  is  accelerated  in  these  later  years. 

The  succession  of  historical  events,  which,  as  Christians,  we  name  the 
order  of  Providence,  is  not  unfrequently  an  evolution  of  good  from 
evil.  God  causes  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  Him.  Prosperity  has 
sprung  from  adversity,  right  from  wrong,  freedom  from  slavery.  The 
Hebrew  lad,  sold  into  bondage  by  his  brethren,  becomes  their  preserver 
and  benefactor.  Saul  of  Tarsus  goes  forth  breathing  out  threatenings 
and  slaughter,  and  returns  to  preach  the  faith  he  had  tried  to  destroy. 
Almost  every  step  in  the  progress  of  civilization  has  been  through  tears 
and  blood.  The  best  we  have  is  “ the  good  of  suffering  born.”  The 
death  of  Jesus  Christ  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light.  The  cross 
precedes  the  crown. 

Let  us  suppose  that  a historical  problem  is  to  be  solved.  A conti- 
nent is  to  be  redeemed  from  barbarism  to  civilization,  from  idolatry  to 


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Christianity.  Suppose  that  the  inhabitants  of  that  continent  are  in- 
capable of  self-elevation,  and  therefore  science,  art,  social  culture  and 
.religion  are  to  be  imported  from  abroad.  Suppose  further  that  the  cli- 
mate is  insalubrious  to  foreigners,  and  therefore  science,  art,  social  cul- 
ture and  Christianity  will  not  be  imported  by  them.  Suppose,  finally, 
that  the  people  are  too  indolent  to  seek  such  benefits  in  other  countries, 
and  too  ignorant  to  appreciate  them  if  they  did.  Such  was,  and  to  a 
great  extent  is,  the  actual  condition  of  a large  part  of  Africa.  How 
shall  her  millions  be  instructed,  elevated,  civilized,  Christianized  ? 

Look  at  the  long  catalogue  of  evils  and  sufferings  of  which  good  has 
been  born,  and  more  good  is  yet  to  be  born, — wars  of  the  native  tribes 
to  capture  human  merchandise;  the  barracoon,  the  slave-ship,  the  hor- 
rors of  the  middle  passage;  the  auction  block,  the  rending  asunder  of 
families,  the  consignment  to  hopeless  and  hereditary  bondage;  fierce 
and  protracted  political  controversy;  a bloody  and  destructive  war. 
Were  there  no  compensation  for  these  tremendous  evils  we  might  doubt 
whether  there  is  a God  in  history.  Let  us  see  what  good  has  come,  or 
is  promised,  from  two  centuries  of  suffering  and  wrong.  By  contact 
with  civilization  a barbarous  but  imitative  race  became  in  a degree  civ- 
ilized. The  bondmen  learned  of  their  masters  many  useful  arts,  and 
how  the  comforts  of  life  are  obtained  by  labor.  The  descendants  of 
idolators  accepted  the  truths  of  the  Bible  with  childlike  faith,  and  em- 
braced a religion,  not  of  the  head  but  of  the  heart,  a form  of  Christian- 
ity, sentimental  and  emotional  it  may  be,  but  suited  to  their  imperfect 
mental  development.  Then  amidst  the  throes  of  a sanguinary  war 
came  emancipation,  citizenship,  civil  rights,  equality  before  the  law. 
education,  and  for  the  industrious  and  frugal  the  gradual  accumulation 
of  property.  And  now,  last  of  all,  thousands  are  looking  earnestly 
toward  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  preparing  to  realize  the  cherished 
hope  and  prophecy  of  this  Society,— a self-supporting  emigration  to 
Africa.  The  hardy  and  energetic  will  go  to  better  their  own  condition, 
or  at  least  the  condition  of  their  children ; the  educated  and  philan- 
thropic, to  better  the  condition  of  the  native  Africans  by  opening 
schools  for  their  children  and  preaching  the  gospel  to  those  who  sit  in 
the  darkness  of  ignorance  and  idolatry.  The  elevation  of  a race  and 
the  redemption  of  a continent  are  the  two  grand  objects  which  the 
American  Colonization  Society  has  kept  steadily  in  view,  and  which 


5 


the  present  spirit  of  emigration,  if  judiciously  directed,  promises  to 
realize. 

The  thought  of  redeeming  Africa  by  the  instrumentality  of  her  own 
children  brooded  in  the  minds  of  Christian  philanthropists  many  years  be- 
fore it  took  shape  in  this  Society.  Through  all  the  years  of  slavery  in  this 
country  the  emancipation  of  individual  bondmen  was  going  slowly  on. 
A fewT  of  the  slaves  purchased  their  freedom  by  the  eprnings  of  extra 
labor;  others  were  liberated  through  the  gratitude  or  conscience  of  hu- 
mane masters;  others  by  State  laws.  Thus  arose  two  classes  of  colored 
people,  free  negroes  and  slaves.  The  social  status  of  the  two  classes 
was  very  nearly  equal.  But  in  the  South  the  free  negroes  were  a con- 
tinual menace  to  slavery,  and  the  South  did  not  want  them.  In  the 
North  they  competed  with  white  labor,  and  the  North  did  not  want 
them.  The  masses  at  the  North  had  much  sympathy  for  colored  peo- 
ple at  a distance,  and  ill-concealed  aversion  to  them  near  at  hand.  But 
both  in  the  North  and  South  were  found  true-hearted  Christian  men 
who  sincerely  desired  to  benefit  the  colored  people,  both  bond  and  free. 
These  were  the  noble  men,  all  of  whom  have  gone  up  to  God,  who  or- 
ganized the  American  Colonization  Society  in  181 7 ; planted  the  little 
colony  on  the  African  coast  a few  years  later,  and  nursed  it  through  its 
feeble  infancy  and  dependent  childhood  for  thirty  years,  and  has 
watched  its  growing  youth  and  contributed  to  its  welfare  for  thirty 
years  more. 

A nation  is  not  born  at  once,  nor  does  a child-state  grow  to  manhood 
in  a day.  Time  is  an  element  in  every  historic  movement.  The  Su- 
preme Being  is  patient;  “His  mills  grind  slow,  but  they  grind  exceed- 
ing fine.”  The  infant  commonwealth  must  draw  sustenance  from  the 
mother  land.  When  its  bones  enlarge  and  harden,  and  its  sinews  be- 
come strong,  it  will  stand  alone.  Its  hand  power  must  grow  as  its 
brain  power  grows,  until  with  the  help  of  both  it  will  protect  itself 
against  aggression  and  violence. 

Liberia  has  passed  its  infancy.  It  can  stand  alone.  It  is  passing  its 
childhood  and  gaining  strength  for  self-protection.  Its  brain  power  is 
respectable,  as  the  addresses  and  other  documents  writteg  by  its  public 
men  abundantly  prove.  But  it  wants  more  hand  power.  It  needs  pop- 
ulation. It  needs  men  with  heads  to  plan  and  hands  to  execute ; men 
with  will  and  sinew  to  cultivate  the  exuberant  soil,  and  add  to  the 


6 


wealth  and  strength  of  a growing  State.  It  has  a sufficiency  for  present 
use  of  Esquires,  and  Honorables,  and  Excellencies.  It  has  enough  of 
traders  who  cling  to  the  shore  and  speculate  on  supplies  for  arriving  im- 
migrants. In  a word,  it  wants  more  producers  of  wealth  and  less  ex- 
changers of  products. 

I congratulate  the  Society  that  the  time  has  come  to  send  emigrants 
to  Liberia  who  know  how  to  take  care  of  themselves.  The  condition 
of  our  colored  people  has  changed ; and  our  mode  of  procedure  which 
was  necessary  some  years  ago,  when  few  but  the  poor  and  dependent 
were  willing  to  emigrate,  may  now  lie  changed  with  advantage.  The 
time  has  come  to  encourage  a self-paying  emigration,  or  an  emigration 
at  least  partly  self-paying.  Mr.  Edward  S.  Morris  of  Philadelphia,  who 
probably  knows  as  much  of  Liberia  as  any  man  in  America,  and  who 
has  given  the  subject  of  African  colonization  much  time,  thought  and 
money  during  the  past  quarter  of  a century,  never  spoke  a truer  word 
than  this,  “The  man  who  has  no  money  here,  will  have  no  money  in 
Liberia.”  He,  doubtless,  meant  that  since  emancipation  has  placed  the 
destiny  of  our  colored  people  in  their  owu  hands,  the  man  who  has  not 
the  industry  to  earn  and  the  self-denial  to  save  money  in  America,  will 
be  a burden  and  not  a help  in  Liberia.  Our  colored  people  are  begin-' 
ning  to  practice  thrift,  to  earn  and  save;  and  when  any  one  of  them 
shall  have  earned  and  saved  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  he  will  be 
fit,  if  his  moral  character  be  good,  to  become  a useful  citizen  of  Liberia. 
If  he  have  courage  to  go  there,  send  him . Give  him  a free  passage  if 
you  please.  But  do  not  send  the  timid,  nor  the  shiftless,  nor  the  lazy. 
Do  not  send  the  dandy  valet-de-chambre  of  a gentleman — one  who  wears 
his  hat  on  one  side  of  his  head,  and  holds  a little  cane  in  one  hand  and 
a cigarette  in  the  other.  He  is  too  highly  educated  to  be  useful  there. 
He  will  be  a gentleman  in  caricature.  Send  stalwart,  energetic  men. 
who  will  not  be  afraid  to  go  out  of  sight  of  ship  and  shore,  who  will  go 
straight  to  the  healthy  interior  with  the  means,  either  in  cotton  cloth, 
tobacco,  or  money,  to  buy  a piece  of  laud,  build  a house  and  make 
crops. 

It  is  said  when  the  I^uke  of  Wellington  commanded  the  British  army 
in  the  war  against  Napoleon,  he  ordered  a certain  regiment  to  take 
spades  and  intrench.  They  demurred;  said  they  were  gentlemen;  came 
to  fight,  not  to  dig.  Wellington  wrote  to  the  minister  of  war,  “ Send 


me  no  more  gentlemen,  send  me  men.”  He  wanted  men  who  could 
handle  a spade  as  well  as  a musket.  So  does  Liberia.  She  wants  more 
men  with  spade  and  hoe.  Agriculture  is  the  basis  of  all  wealth ; it 
supplies  the  material  of  commerce  and  manufactures;  it  is  the  handmaid 
of  civilization,  the  support  of  nations.  The  wise  man  said,  “ The  king 
himself  is  served  by  the  field.” 

The  exhibit  which  Mr.  Morris  made  of  Liberian  products  at  our  Cen- 
tennial Exposition,  demonstrated  the  ability  of  that  country  to  supply 
commerce  with  a goodly  number  of  articles  which  the  people  of  other 
countries  desire  and  will  pay  for.  Coffee,  indigo,  palm-oil,  palm-soap, 
ivory,  cam-wood,  India  rubber,  sugar,  arrow-root,  ginger,  ground-nuts, 
iron  ore,  gums  and  spices  are  products  which  the  world  demands  and 
will  consume.  These  are  the  promise  and  prophecy  of  prosperity  and 
power ; but  they  are  not  to  be  had  without  labor.  The  observation  of 
a Greek  philosopher,  “God  gives  nothing  valuable  to  men  without 
labor,  ” is  as  true  now  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Socrates ; as  true  of  Libe- 
ria as  of  America.  We  must  not  deceive  our  colored  friends  by  descrip- 
tions drawn  from  imagination  and  not  from  facts.  Liberia  is  not  an 
El  Dorado  where  gold  may  be  gathered  like  stones  in  the  highway. 
Without  industry,  intelligently  directed,  there  can  be  no  prosperity 
anywhere.  If  the  emigrant  wants  food  or  gold,  he  must  dig  for  it ; if 
he  wants  coffee,  he  must  plant  the  trees  and  wait  three  years  for  a crop ; 
if  he  wants  a cabin  for  shelter,  he  must  build  it.  There,  as  here,  free- 
dom means  freedom  to  work,  save  and  enjoy,  or  to  be  idle,  destitute 
and  miserable. 

The  Exodus  Associations,  now  organizing  in  the  United  States,  are 
taking  steps  in  the  right  direction.  They  contribute  money  and  send 
delegates  to  Liberia  to  examine  and  report  the  condition,  climate,  soil 
and  productions  of  the  country,  select  healthy  localities  at  a distance 
from  the  coast,  and  ascertain  on  what  terms  lands  may  be  purchased, 
either  of  the  Liberian  Government  or  the  natives.  If  the  reports  be 
favorable,  large  numbers  will  apply  for  passage  with  means  to  establish 
themselves  in  the  selected  localities,  and  relieve  the  Society  of  all 
further  expense.  * 

It  has  been  objected  that  this  exodus  will  deprive  the  country  of  the 
labor  of  a valuable  class  of  colored  people,  and  leave  behind  the  idle, 
the  dissolute,  the  aged  and  infirm,  a burden  on  the  community.  This 


objection  seems,  on  first  view,  to  have  some  weight;  but  when  we  con- 
sider that  our  colored  population  is  between  four  and  five  millions,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  exportation  of  one  or  two  thousand  a year  would  reduce 
the  productive  force  of  the  country  in  only  an  infinitesimal  amount,  and 
would  cause  no  serious  disturbance  of  its  industrial  interests.  The  exo- 
dus on  any  scale  probable,  or  even  possible  within  the  lives  of  the  pres- 
ent generation,  will  be  but  a small  fraction  of  the  natural  increase  of 
the  race. 

But  if  we  admit,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  the  exodus  of  one  in  a 
hundred  of  robust,  industrious  men  and  women  may  diminish  produc- 
tion temporarily  in  this  country  in  a perceptible  degree,  its  effect  on  the 
colored  people  who  remain  would  be  favorable.  So  far  as  competition 
for  employment  would  be  diminished,  they  would  be  better  off.  They 
would  receive  higher  wages,  because  the  labor  supply  would  be  less  and 
the  demand  equal.  They  would  receive  better  treatment  from  their  em- 
ployers, whose  interest  it  would  be  to  keep  them  in  the  country  and  in 
their  service. 

But  there  is  no  danger  of  “ a corner  ” in  the  labor  market.  The  com- 
fortable and  contented  will  not  emigrate ; the  timid  and  ignorant  will 
not.  They  who  have  young  children  or  aged  parents  to  support  will 
“ rather  bear  the  ills  they  have  than  fly  to  others  that  they  know  not  of.” 
The  ambitious,  aspiring  and  discontented  will  emigrate.  He  who  re- 
sents social  ostracism  and  political  inferiority  will  look  to  a country 
where  his  race  is  dominant  and  the  government  his  own.  It  is  not 
enough  that  his  personal  freedom  is  secure,  that  all  his  civil  rights  are 
guaranteed,  that  he  has  facilities  for  the  education  of  his  children,  that 
his  life,  property  and  reputation  are  under  the  aegis  of  law ; the  intel- 
ligent, thinking  colored  man  feels  keenly  that  it  is  not  in  the  law,  nor 
in  his  stars,  but  in  himself,  that  he  is  an  underling.  He  is  one  of  a 
depressed  race ; and  so  long  as  he  remains  under  the  shadow  of  a domi- 
nant race,  so  long  will  he  remain  an  underling.  He  will  go  where  he 
will  be  the  peer  of  the  best. 

It  would  be  an  error  for  emigrants  to  expect,  during  the  first  few 
years  of  their  residence  in  Liberia,  all  the  comforts  of  life  which  they 
enjoyed  in  America.  Such  a mistake  would  lead  to  disappointment. 
The  children  of  Israel  were  released  from  bondage,  but,  weary  and 
footsore,  hungry  and  thirsty,  in  their  desert  journey,  they  longed  for  the 


9 


leeks  and  onions  and  fleshpots  of  Egypt.  So  the  despondent  emigrant, 
during  the  early  part  of  his  residence,  may  say  to  our  Society  as  the 
Israelites  said  to  Moses,  “Why  hast  thou  brought  us  forth  to  die  in  this 
wilderness?”  The  early  colonists  who  landed  at  Jamestown  and  Ply- 
mouth endured  similar  and  more  seveffe  sufferings.  Even  those  who 
heed  the  dictum,  “Go  West,  young  man,”  sacrifice  something  of  present 
enjoyment  to  future  well-being.  The  feeble  in  mind  or  body  are  dis- 
couraged; the  strong  and  hopeful  work  and  wj.it  and  reap  their  harvest 
of  good  in  due  time. 

A self-sustaining  emigration  will  be  of  immense  value  to  the  present 
Americo-Africans.  The  little  republic  needs  men  capable  of  bearing 
arms; — men  to  make  roads  to  open  up  the  country, — men  of  the  various 
mechanical  trades  as  well  as  farmers,  who  will  contribute  to  the  national 
wealth  by  their  intelligence  and  industry.  And  who  can  estimate  the 
blessings  of  such  an  emigration  to  the  native  tribes,  especially  to  those 
which  acknowledge  allegiance  to  the  Liberian  government  ? What  in- 
crease of  products  by  labor  more  intelligently  directed ! What  advance- 
ment in  education!  What  moral  and  physical  improvement!  What 
diffusion  of  Christian  light  in  the  dark  places  of  superstition ! Where 
industry  goes,  commerce  will  follow;  where  commerce  goes,  the  mis- 
sionary will  follow, — the  Bible,  the  school,  the  printing-press,  the 
steam-engine,  the  railway,  all  will  follow  in  rapid  succession. 

There  are  political  considerations  which  favor  a closer  connection 
lhan  exists  at  the  present  time  between  Liberia  and  the  United  States. 
But  it'" is  not  probable  that  either  party  desires  annexation.  Liberia 
would  not  willingly  surrender  her  independence,  however  prematurely 
it  was  declared.  Her  citizens  would  feel  themselves  dwarfed  if  their 
country  should  become  an  appendage  of  a distant  and  powerful  nation 
in  which  they  would  be  of  no  more  importance  than  one  of  its  fifth  rate 
cities.  Nor  would  the  people  of  the  United  States  desire  the  annexa- 
tion of  an  African  territory  with  the  responsibility  of  defending  it  in 
the  event  of  a foreign  war.  Nations  are  more  influenced  by  interest 
than  by  sympathy.  They  are  slow  to  accept  a bargain  in  which  they 
take  all  the  risk  and  expense,  with  but  slender  prospect  of  any  compen- 
sating advantage.  We  are  not  going  to  make  a railway  from  Monrovia 
to  Cairo  as  a gratuity  through  sheer  benevolence.  Two  and  a-half  centu- 
ries were  required  to  prepare  this  country  for  a railway  to  the  Pacific, 


10 


The  railway  from  Monrovia  to  Cairo  will  be  built,  but  it  will  be  built 
piece  by  piece,  as  the  needs  of  commerce  and  travel  demand,  and  as 
capital  shall  find  it  a paying  investment. 

Annexation  would  not  promote  the  safety  of  Liberia,  but  in  certain 
contingencies  would  increase  her  perils.  Except  in  conflicts  with  na- 
tive tribes,  the  surest  defence  of  Liberia  is  her  weakness.  No  powerful 
nation  would  wage  war  against  a people  too  feeble  to  make  even  a show 
of  resistance.  The  whqle  world  would  cry  “shame.”  But  if  Liberia 
were  annexed,  it  would  be  the  most  vulnerable  part  of  the  United 
States.  An  outlying  territory,  the  gate  to  the  rich  commerce  of  a con- 
tinent, would  be  strongly  coveted,  easily  seized,  firmly  held,  and  never 
evacuated  except  as  the  result  of  unsuccessful  war.  A protectorate, 
in  some  form,  would  conduce  more  to  the  safety  of  Liberia,  and  to  the 
commercial  and  political  interests  of  the  United  States  than  an  organic 
union.  We  may  rightfully  say,  we  ought  emphatically  to  say,  to  both 
her  native  and  foreign  enemies,  if  such  there  be,  “Hands  off!  Don’t 
touch  this  foster  child  of  ours.” 

No  doubt  the  English  merchants  covet  Liberia,  because  they  wish  to 
monopolize  the  trade  of  all  Western  and  Southern  Africa,  from  the 
great  desert  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  They  will  defy  when  they 
dare,  and  intrigue  when  they  cannot  intimidate.  They  will  lend  money 
to  an  impecunious  government,  as  the  price  of  its  independence;  and 
when  pay-day  comes  they  will  say,  “stand  and  deliver,”  unless  we  dis- 
pute the  claim.  We  have  a right  to  share  in  that  profitable  commerce, 
and  shall  not  suffer  the  gate  to  be  barred  against  us.  Self-interest  will 
induce  the  United  States  to  protect  Liberia  against  the  neighboring 
tribes,  which  are  peaceable  unless  made  hostile  by  foreign  intrigue. 

Permit  me  to  say  in  conclusion,  Mr.  President,  that  this  Society  per- 
ceives in  the  near  future  the  fruition  of  its  hopes;  the  consummation  of 
its  work.  It  has  encountered  obloquy  at  home  and  discouragements 
abroad.  In  circumstances  the  most  adverse,  it  has  cherished  an  abid- 
ing faith  in  the  final  triumph  of  its  cause.  Its  firm  trust  in  God,  and 
love  of  humanity,  sustained  it  when  even  the  colored  people,  whose 
best  friend  it  was,  turned  their  hearts  and  faces  against  it.  And  now 
the  day  is  dawning.  Light  breaks  in  all  over  the  land.  Education, 
industry  and  frugality  are  preparing  an  emigration,  of  moderate  num- 
bers at  first,  but  gradually  swelling  to  a mighty  stream,  as  Liberia  shall 


11 


be  in  a condition  to  absorb  it,  until  commerce,  civilization  and  Chris- 
tianity, overleaping  the  boundaries  of  the  Americo-African  republic, 
shall  redeem  the  continent. 


